Rory Delap is hoping Stoke City can thrash out terms with Real Zaragoza to turn Jermaine Pennant’s loan spell into a permanent deal.
The Potters long-throw specialist believes the winger would be a great addition to the club in the long-term and can see why City boss Tony Pulis wants to keep him.
Delap told The Sentinel:“Of course I’d love to see him stay, but not just from a selfish point of view. He’s been terrific since he came to the club because he gives us a different dimension.
“He gives us that added bit of pace and attacking flair that we’ve missed on the right. It gives us good balance and hopefully things can be sorted with him.”
However, Stoke have made it clear they won’t be held to ransom by his Spanish club during the negotiation process, but Pulis is quietly optimistic about securing his signature when the transfer window reopens again in January.
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Freddie Sears, a player who had only ever scored one goal for West Ham, on his debut in March 2008, a player who had had relatively unsuccessful loan spells at Crystal Palace, Coventry and Scunthorpe in the past couple of seasons, reignites West Ham’s flagging season in three games. It’s an unlikely tale, but since being recalled by the Hammers on December 21st, Sears has been in scintillating form, and grabbed a deserved goal in the vital 2-0 win over relegation rivals Wolves at Upton Park on New Year’s Day.
I must admit, when I saw Sears’ name on the team sheet against Fulham on Boxing Day, I felt that this was perhaps the final throw of the dice from a desperate man in the shape of Avram Grant. Either the Israeli was very lucky, or very, very astute, because by playing wide right in a very attacking 4-4-2, or what could even be described as 4-2-4, Sears has excelled along with his fellow academy graduate, Junior Stanislas, who has been playing on the opposite flank.
But could it solely be Sears’ influence that has caused the turn around in fortunes at Upton Park? Of course not, but I believe he has played a big part. Through his endeavours on loan, although not particularly successful, Sears has managed to actually play first team football, gaining the experience vital to his footballing progression, and this was evident from the start. His performance against Fulham, just five days after he was recalled from Scunthorpe, was a man-of-the-match worthy outing, and showed his desire.
Having been out of the first team for quite some time, Sears must have been wondering when his chance would come again, and with Avram Grant’s job on the line, he must have envisaged a new manager coming in and another season on loan in the offing. So when Grant gave him the opportunity, he really needed to take it, not just for his own career, but for the club as well. Good performances and good results meant that the status quo would be maintained; with Sears in the starting line-up, and Grant in charge, and so it has proved, as Sears also started the matches against both Everton and Wolves.
Sears’ inclusion may not be the overriding reason for West Ham’s Christmas renaissance (I believe that may lie in a formation and attitude change) but his inclusion has certainly breathed life into a West Ham side that were staring at the Championship through the long months before May.
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When Fabio Capello arrived in English football at the beginning of 2008, one of his most crucial mission statements was to pick his squad and sides on form – reputation, he said, would not be a substitute for form.
The former Real Madrid coach, at that point the darling of the English media, took a tough stance on the misfiring Michael Owen, consigning the striker to the international scrap heap after a poor run of performances and injuries with club side Newcastle.
It is then with some interest that I have followed the recent form of two of England’s premier strikers. Both Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe have found themselves short of goals despite recent runs of good results for their club teams.
Rooney’s lack of goals is particularly concerning. For a man hailed as England’s single great white hope for World Cup glory as recently as last March, Rooney’s solitary goal in open play so far this term has become one of the statistical anomalies of the season. Remarkable considering Manchester United’s unbeaten start to the season and commanding position built up at the top of the Premier League.
Rooney has hardly had a low key season, regardless of his sometimes anonymous performances on the pitch. The furore surrounding his desire to leave Old Trafford and resultant new contract was extraordinary, and with further accusations in the tabloid press about his extra-marital activities surfacing, the one time Everton striker has hardly had much chance to work on his game.
Jermain Defoe’s lack of goals has been more excusable. The former Portsmouth striker’s year has been blighted by an early season ankle injury and whilst he is yet to hit the heights (or a league goal) thus far, Harry Redknapp has not relied heavily on the diminutive striker due to the deluge of goals coming from other sources.
Capello’s charges looked toothless, at best, during their damaging stalemate with Macedonia at Wembley in the autumn, and the much maligned coach will not want his strike force to go into an important clash against Wales with only a handful of league goals between them.
There are, however, several factors likely to ease Capello’s selection worries. England’s next competitive fixture is not until March, plenty of time for both men to re-discover some form. Should neither player show signs of improvement, the Italian’s mettle might be tested, however, the English media have learnt to run a sceptical eye over Capello’s selection guidelines – he has been known to break them for certain big name players.
Furthermore, Capello has shown a pathological reluctance to select Peter Crouch, England’s most prolific striker over the last four years, in any capacity other than an occasional substitute appearance. Many of England’s other striking options are beset by injury or form problems, and the immediate international futures of Kevin Davies, Jay Bothroyd and Andy Carroll are not clear.
It must be pointed out that Defoe is by no means guaranteed a berth in Capello’s starting XI, regardless of how he plays at this stage. For a man that has had his international career dogged by misfortune and crucial omissions, this recent goal drought will no doubt damage his aims of making himself indispensible to the national team ahead of Euro 2012.
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If dropping Defoe would not be a major shock, omitting Rooney would be a big step for any England manager, particularly one under the level of scrutiny that Capello finds himself.
With the Champions League restarting in a few weeks time, any sign of an improvement in performance will surely be enough to dispel doubts about the suitability of Manchester United’s star man when it comes to selecting the side to face Gary Speed’s men. Even with an under-par Rooney, if England fail to beat a Wales side without a point in qualification thus far, the England manager will have more questions to answer than just about his choice of striker.
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Inter Milan dominated the annual Serie A awards ceremony, the Oscar del Calcio, in Milan on Monday.
Argentine striker Diego Milito took out three awards – best foreign player, the league’s player of the Year and best striker.
Former Inter coach Jose Mourinho, now at Real Madrid, was named best coach after last year’s treble with Inter.
Milito’s success was the icing on the cake for Inter. The Italian champions were voted team of the year and scooped four other major honours.
Julio Cesar was named best goalkeeper for the second time, Walter Samuel shared the best defender award with Giorgio Chiellini and Douglas Maicon’s strike against Juventus was recognised as the goal of the year.
It was an emotional night for Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale who was voted Italian Player of the Year and leading goalscorer.
Palermo starlet Javier Pastore deservedly won the best young player award.
But Napoli striker Edinson Cavani was seen as the most popular of all nominees after coming out top in a fans’ poll.
In a video message, Mourinho claimed that his time in Italy had made him a better tactician.
“I am sorry not to be there with you, but the Copa del Rey semi-final against Sevilla has impeded me,” Mourinho said.
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“Receiving an Oscar is wonderful because for me to have respect is important and fortunately I have always had it from my players.”
“If the Italian League is so beautiful and difficult, it’s down to the great coaches that work in Serie A.”
“I have been in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain and the difficulty of the Italian championship has helped me become better.”
Captain Terry McFlynn says Sydney FC will use the last two A-League games this season to prepare for their Asian Champions League tilt.
Both Sydney and the Newcastle Jets needed a win on Sunday to keep their finals chances alive, but the thrilling 1-1 draw left reigning champions Sydney mathematically unable to make the top six.
“It was not enough,” Sydney boss Vitezslav Lavicka said after the match. “Six games unbeaten is good in this series but we wanted more out of this game.”
“We are upset and disappointed because we believed that we still had a small chance to reach the finals, but not now.”
“I think it was good football because both sides needed to win and it was open football – we created some chances, the home team as well so for the spectator it was a good game tonight.”
“But I think this result wasn’t good enough for both sides.”
Sydney skipper Terry McFlynn said now finals were out of the equation, the club would focus on the upcoming ACL campaign. Sydney’s first group stage game is at home to South Korean outfit Suwon Bluewings on March 2.
“It was almost like a cup final out there tonight because both sides had to win – but like the boss said a draw is not a great result for either side,” McFlynn said.
“It is never easy to take a defeat or a draw but you have to move on we will look to the future and the Asian Champions League now is our focus and that starts tomorrow.”
“We will get back training for the game Wednesday night and we will use the last two games in the A-league as preparation for the Asian Champions League.”
“It is a tough competition and these last two games will good preparation for that.”
Lavicka admitted that Sydney’s ‘champions hangover’ was the main reason why the club failed to reach the finals this year.
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“We analysed before that we had a very poor start. It took 10 games to reach the first win and we missed many points in this stage,” he said.
“We improved after this but before Christmas and December we had some more poor results. We have improved again during January and this part of the season but we lost many points before – that is the reason.”
Sydney will announce a new signing at half-time of Wednesday’s game with Wellington, having seen star striker Alex Brosque join J-League club Shimuzu S-Pulse in January.
A Connor Wickham hat-trick fired Ipswich to a 6-0 thumping of Doncaster, while Cardiff dropped points late in Tuesday’s Championship action.
Wickham, 17, bagged his first professional treble and showed why the likes of Tottenham are interested in his services as he put on a solo performance to remember at the Keepmoat Stadium.
Ipswich Town appear rejuvenated under new boss Paul Jewell and headed into the game unbeaten in four and keen to keep their charge up the Championship table alive.
Sam Hird’s 25th-minute own goal gave the visitors the lead and Colin Healy added a second just seven minutes later.
Wickham bagged his first just before half-time and notched his double on the hour-mark as Ipswich started to run riot.
Defender Gareth McAuley got in on the act with his 65th-minute strike before a late penalty presented Wickham with the chance to score his hat-trick and he duly delivered.
At the Cardiff City Stadium, Dave Jones’ side drew with Burnley 1-1 and will be disappointed they let a chance to get within three points of table-toppers QPR slip.
Michael Chopra’s goal on the stroke of half-time looked to have wrapped up the points for the hosts but former Bluebirds striker Steven Thompson had other ideas, grabbing an 83rd-minute equaliser to ensure both sides would be forced to share the spoils.
In other games, Preston North End threw away a chance to climb off the bottom of the table when Watford clawed back from 2-0 down to claim a 2-2 draw at Vicarage Road.
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First-half goals to Sean St Ledger and Leon Clarke had given Phil Brown’s side a great chance of moving ahead of second-from-bottom Scunthorpe United, but Matt Whichelow and Adam Thompson hit goals in the last 25 minutes for the hosts.
Sheffield United remain in the relegation zone despite claiming a late point in a 1-1 draw with Reading at Bramall Lane.
Shane Long’s 81st-minute goal gave the visitors a late lead but the Republic of Ireland international turned from hero to villain, giving away a late penalty which was tucked away by substitute Daniel Bogdanovic.
Carlo Ancelotti refused to entertain suggestions the Premier League title is still within reach following Chelsea’s 3-1 win at Blackpool.The Blues followed up last week’s stunning 2-1 defeat of league leaders Manchester United by thumping Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Monday, cutting the gap between themselves and United to nine points with a game in hand.Chelsea, now fourth on the table as Tottenham’s league campaign grinds to a sudden halt, next return to Stamford Bridge to host Manchester City, who are desperate to seal a Champions League berth to justify their massive spending in the transfer window.But Ancelotti refused to indulge talk of defending the title Chelsea claimed over United in 2009/10.”I maintain the same idea because we are too far (away),” Ancelotti told Sky Sports.John Terry headed Chelsea into the lead in the first half and Frank Lampard added two goals within three second-half minutes to put Blackpool to the sword.But Ancelotti was disappointed Jason Puncheon was able to add a consolation goal for the Seasiders in the 86th minute.”I think that we have definitely come back to playing our football with power, with strength and character,” Ancelotti.”But it was not an easy game. Until the penalty, the game was in the balance.””I think that we played well. I am a little disappointed because we conceded the goal. We were too relaxed and so we have to stay in focus for the whole 90 minutes.”The Blues boss also leapt to the defence of 50-million-pound signing Fernando Torres, who is still yet to find the net since moving from Liverpool in January.”I am very happy because he is working hard, supporting the team, also defensively. I think that he has very good behaviour on the pitch,” he said.Blackpool boss Ian Holloway rued referee Mike Dean’s decision to award a penalty to Chelsea for Ian Evatt’s challenge on Salomon Kalou, saying it turned the game in the visitors’ favour.”We were a little bit naive. We gave the chance for the referee to give it. He couldn’t wait to give it and the bloke couldn’t wait to fall over,” Holloway said.”If you look at it carefully, (Evatt) has played the ball. In the Championship it might not have been given.””We deserved a goal from our first-half performance and unfortunately last year’s champions are that good that they can hurt you and they did after that.””But I’m very proud of my team. We kept going and going and on another day we might have nicked something. Goals are vital at this level. We needed the second one and unfortunately they got it.”
Roberto Mancini has urged his Manchester City side to adopt a cautious approach against Dynamo Kiev despite going into the game 2-0 down on aggregate.City managed a tense 1-0 win over Championship side Reading in the FA Cup at the weekend, only breaking down the visitors after 74 minutes from a well-worked set-piece.Mancini knows how much City fans want to end their 35-year wait for a trophy yet he still will not endorse an attacking approach despite the first-leg defeat in Kiev in their Europa League tie.”At the start of the game we just tried to score, score, score but I think we should play our game and not concede which I think is very important and then we can score one or two goals,” he said.”It’s not important if we score after five minutes or half an hour. It’s important that we play as a team and play strong and we do not concede because Kiev are a team that plays on the counter attack and it will be important to pay more attention tomorrow.”In spite of City’s continuously cautious approach, with over 100 million pounds of attacking talent at their disposal, Mancini wants the silverware-hungry supporters to get behind his side.”It’s important our supporters play close to us like they did against Reading and then we can play our game,” Mancini added. “I think we have a chance to score I think if we play our game we should win,” he said.Mancini has bemoaned the injuries that have affected his side but there is hope on the horizon.”James Milner is not 100 percent but he can probably go on the bench,” he said.”I hope that Nigel De Jong will be feeling good after playing in the Reading game because he had a problem with his ankle in the last 10 minutes. Adam Johnson has been working with the team for four days but he will not be ready.”Meanwhile, City defender Vincent Kompany said he expected his team would progress despite being down in the tie.”Obviously it was not a good result but having said that it is a home tie now and we expect to do the same to them as they did to us and possibly more,” he said. “If they believe they can score one goal then we will have to score four but we are confident and we know the fans are going to give us support and it is going to be a special game.””It is down to the manager which fashion we play in, we believe that whatever way we play there is a lot to play for. We should use our head and remember that we have the 12th man in the crowd and use that to our advantage and not make mistakes. I am confident that we have enough to go and score goals.”
Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge is enjoying his time on loan at Bolton, but is looking forward to returning to Stamford Bridge.
The 21-year-old has scored four goals from five English Premier League games since making the temporary move to the Reebok Stadium at the end of January, but has his heart set on carving a place of his own in Carlo Ancelotti’s star-studded line-up.
Despite many Bolton fans perhaps hoping the front man would make the move a permanent one, Sturridge insists his future lies in London.
“I’m looking forward to going back at the end of the season, to rekindling friendships, to being a Chelsea player again,” Sturridge told The Independent.
“I’m contracted to Chelsea for another three years and I want to see that contract out. Obviously you can never say never in football, but Chelsea is still where my heart is.”
Sturridge believes his time at Bolton has been an invaluable learning experience, and paid tribute to manager Owen Coyle. He also revealed striker Kevin Davies had become something of a mentor to him.
“I liked the manager who’s a really nice guy and a fantastic man manager. He keeps everyone happy, the morale here is amazing. It’s easy to join a team like this. No one ever seems to be upset about anything,” Sturridge said.
“Since coming here I’ve learnt a lot from Kevin Davies. I’ve never seen a player win so many headers, and playing with him has taught me to put myself about a bit more, maybe toughen up a bit.”
“I think he brings out the best in me, and we get on really well, which helps. In any (training) situation, if there are pairs then it’s always me and Kevin. And I can talk to him about anything.”
Although Chelsea acquired Spanish star Fernando Torres from Liverpool in January, Sturridge does not see the striker’s arrival as a hurdle to his return home.
“I’m happy he’s joined – the club needs to progress, and he makes the squad stronger than it was before,” he said.
“I hope Didier (Drogba) stays too. He’s a great footballer, and I respect him so much, as a man off the field, not just as a player.”
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“But I believe I’m good enough to start at Chelsea regularly, and when I get the chance I’ll prove to everyone that I should be a regular.”
“At Chelsea I’m among world-class strikers, so if I’m picked to start I’ll be deemed a world-class striker as well. When (Lionel) Messi came in at Barcelona they had (Samuel) Eto’o, Ronaldinho, Ludovic Giuly.”
“I’m not saying that’s going to be me, but you can prove yourself against these guys, and I don’t know how good I can be.”
Carlo Ancelotti is adamant Chelsea were denied a late penalty in their 1-0 Champions League quarter-final loss to Manchester United.Blues midfielder Ramires appeared to have been brought down by United’s Patrice Evra in the first leg’s dying stages, but the referee’s whistled stayed silent despite Chelsea’s appeals for a spot kick.
The penalty could have put Chelsea level, after Wayne Rooney’s goal handed United a 1-0 lead on 24 minutes.
“One. It was clear,” the Ancelotti said. “It was the foul on Ramires.”
“That one was a clear penalty.”
Blues custodian Petr Cech was also insistent there was a case of oversight on the match official’s part.
“I think everybody saw what happened. You can see it clearly on the telly, but the most important person didn’t see it, that’s the main thing,” he told ITV.
Despite conceding an away goal, Ancelotti said he was satisfied with his side’s showing on Wednesday.
“The performance was not bad. We had some moments where we weren’t able to have good control of the game with possession, in the middle of the first half, but in general the performance was good,” he said, with the second leg to played at Old Trafford next Tuesday.
“We had chances but it was difficult when we went 1-0 down to come back into the game.”
“They used the counter-attack very well, but we had some chances.”
“We hit the post and should have had a penalty and (Edwin) Van der Sar made a fantastic save from (Fernando) Torres.”
“We are disappointed but fortunately we still have 90 minutes at Old Trafford. It will not be easy, but last season at the same moment we needed to win there and we won the title.”